Jeffbucc

The tune and exhaust were the 3rd best I did behind a 25mm rear sway , and a dieselgeek billet aluminum short shifter(feels like a gated Ferrari shifter).

My mileage went up 3-5mpg, and I have 220hp/330tq now. Which completely transformed the car. It went from not bad to enjoyable quick acceleration. Under 80 with how close the gear ratios are it is seriously fun driving in town. The tq and the sound of the exhaust really transform it. I would do it again easy. The stock DMF clutch held up fine as well if you smart enough to realize it has enough power to release the clutch in 1st and not slip it.

It is probably a little slower than a stock GTI with a stage 2. But loses its top end pretty quickly at around 3800 rpm. But you get full tq at 18-1900rpm.

I have plans once I rebuild the engine in the Miata to tow it, if I end up getting the GTI if offered a trade in I'll probably buy an old truck and do restoration and tow with that.

I think what everyone expects and what they'll get will be hugely different. VW is smart and they have a lot of money to throw around. They will find a way to do the bare minimum to make the EPA happy. The USA market is a small puddle compared to the ocean of sales they make world wide. Our market barely represents 10-20% of VAG.

Joe Perez

iTrader: (8)

In terms of sales, yes.

In terms of media coverage, the USA is kind of influential. Bad press generated here tends to ripple.

fredb

iTrader: (1)

This hits the nail exactly on the head. The media's tendency to blow things out of proportion let alone get the facts right. Add in a he legal culture and a tendency to sue at the drop of a hat regardless of actual loss or damage and the punishment quite often no longer fits the crime. It also creates a lot of people that seem to think they've hit the lottery and are now owed something.

hi_im_sean

iTrader: (3)

What vw stock at today?

Jeffbucc

Continuously getting worse.

Jeffbucc

And now that Europe has investigated the cars in europe the total amount is over 2.2m world wide, rather than the 500k in USA. EU is stirring up their emissions beehive as a result as well.

Also found same inconsistencies with Audi, Mercedes, Porsche, BMW.

Joe Perez

iTrader: (8)

I've been looking at that with interest for a few days.

What's the best way to buy .de securities via a US broker? Pink sheets? OTCQX?

hi_im_sean

iTrader: (3)

My exact thought.

Im curious Joe, how you would time the low point?

Joe Perez

iTrader: (8)

Market timing?

I dunno. Put a Barbie dollhouse in the middle of the living room floor and toss one olive at it each morning until you score a hit in the jacuzzi? Seems like as good a method as most of the techniques I've read.

hi_im_sean

iTrader: (3)

Yes. You seem like an intelligent kitty, thought maybe you had some advanced technique you'd share.

Im just thinking if there is any foreseeable event/s that would mark the bottom for volkswagen. It would be great if they had a non BS press release a year from now explaining how their new tech gets 60mpg, with less emssions than ever without cheating; Because the day before that press release would be the day to buy. But that would be too easy, and is obviously an unrealistic scenario.


Side bar, more in response to jeff: I(well my wife) have(has) an 07 jetta wolfsburg. We bought it in 10' with 48K. I liked it a lot for the first few years because it feels solid, has not 1 creak or rattle(still doesnt at 140k), fit and finish is fantastic, comfy, roomy, great mpg.

Then I went to go check the trans fluid one day for *****. Well you cant, well at least not directly. The procedure to check the trans oil level defines asinine. It require a scan tool and a bunch of BS with a standoff pipe Even if I could check it and needed to add some, I couldnt because its "sealed" .
Thats one of my major bitches

next:
VAGCOM. nuff said


I then lost a rad cooling fan at 52K

Coolant sphere thing cracked at 100k

Cam/crank sensor at 120K

09G valve body woes. First one covered under warranty needed to be done at 85K, I took it in at 92K. 30K later it started acting up again, now at 140K it needs a valve body right now. Its out of warranty, it would cost quite a bit, im not ******* with it. There is a whole backstory about the 09G and its predecessors that I wont get into. But it aggravates me as the 09G fiasco could have been averted by not bullshitting preventative maintenance to sell more cars. thats not a VW specific thing though so...

Having said all that, its a sample size of 1, and really im ok with having to replace some of those items. Its a car, they break. But I will never buy a modern VAGCOM associated VW product ever again. The fact that troubleshooting these cars might as well be working on the ******* space station, for no good reason, ******* infuriates me. I am so done with this car and we are going to get out of it asap.

Edit- sunroof has the dial, so it does whatever the **** it wants. I know how to fix it, just been too lazy. Fuking CAN cars.

Jeffbucc

Yeah sometimes you get unlucky and they start nickel and diming you to death and you have to figure out how much its worth vs how much you enjoy it vs how much time & personal skill you have at repairing ****.

Luckily I've torn it apart enough times that it isn't nearly as intimidating to work on as most would imagine. Read that does not mean it isn't bullshit how overly complicated the cars are.

How does your transmission not have an overflow bolt for filling up the tranni? It's how I check my fluid levels when I'm doing an oil change?

Do you really not like Vagcom, or VCDS as its called. Many in the VW community believe VW needs to pay Ross billions to take over the ECU software as his software is a million times more user friendly than dealer software.

I ******* love VCDS. Easy logging and manual activation of literally every single system in the car. Fuel/oil/abs priming are a cinch with it. Plus having the OEM Golf Xenon lights on my car I was easily able to recode the ECU to switch to Xenon coding rather than halogen.

My parents have had issues with their Touareg, but it was small stuff luckily. Maybe I just got the luck of the draw on the VW lotto? Or maybe I've modified it so many times that things that would have failed don't have the chance to run the full life expectancy before ripped out.

The 09G automatic in the MK5 is bullshit. Too bad you don't have the newer MK6 tiptronic. Those puppies are handling 450hp in some GTIs.

hi_im_sean

iTrader: (3)

I should have been more clear. Its not that I hate ross tech or VCDS, the programs themselves. Its that I hate that I have to buy a $300 scan tool(plus their $20/qt fluid and the other $150 tool) and license to check my god dam trans fluid level.

It does have the overflow bolt (standpipe), but you cant check anything with it, let alone without VCDS. All you can do is add fluid with, you guessed it, another $150 special tool (although yes i know the forums have a clever way around it, remove one of the hydraulic pressure port plugs and fill there) and wait for it to drain out. I guess if you kept track of how much fluid you poured in, you would know if it was low before it started. But the fact that you have to have the scan tool hooked up with all 4 wheels off the ground, get the trans up to an exact temp, and pour in fluid to see if it leaks out just to check is... ridiculous.

Edit- I guess its just the 09G, and the fact that you have to have a vagcom to do any maintenance on them is what turns me off. the rest of the car i either like or is meh.

hi_im_sean

iTrader: (3)

Dont know how I forgot to mention this-

Factory pads lasted 130K! which is pretty cool. I did the fronts, but the rear still had plenty of meat on them. well the outboard ones did anyway. Who checks both pads? lol

So the rear inside pads got down to the metal before I knew it. The sliders had dried up causing differential pad wear. I went to go pull the rotors and... wtf is that thing?

14mm triple square, thats what the **** that is. Special tool needed to remove the abutment brackets so that you can get the rotor off. Long story short, no one in arizona has one in stock. I had to order it and wait 5 days.
Since I caught the rotor grinding pretty early, i just slapped pads on it until i could get the rotors off and have them turned or replaced. But if they were too damaged, and this was my or my wifes only car, wed be fucked because someone couldn't just use a regular hex head, or even an inverted torx for that matter.

this was kind of the final straw

Savington

iTrader: (31)

Is a triple-square not just a 12-point nut, which would use a 12-point socket? If you live somewhere where a 12-point 14mm or 9/16" socket can't be purchased at your local FLAPS, consider moving back to civilization at some point?

Joe Perez

iTrader: (8)

The picture which he has posted is of the tool required to remove the fastener, not of the fastener itself. The bolt in question has a "female" head (like a torx or allen bolt) and requires a 12 point "male" tool (pictured above) to remove. My recollection is that a 6-sided allen tool does not fit this bolt. (It's a true triple-square profile, which is different from a hexagon.)

The air-cooled VWs used this exact same fastener somewhere. I have one rolling around in my "old" toolbox, though I can't recall where on the car, exactly, it was used. CV boots, maybe?

Sears carries them. Or, at least, they did 20 years ago. They also sell 17mm allen wrenches which are specifically labeled as being for use on the drain plug of a VW transmission.

hi_im_sean

iTrader: (3)

Basically what Joe said.

You cant even take a 14mm 12 point hex head bolt and make it into a tool. 12pt hex has 120 degree points, a triple square is 90, so it doesnt fit. I found 6, 8, 10 and 12 mm triple points at sears and oreillys, just no 14mm. I even almost machined a 14mm square bar, but with only 4 points on mild non heat treated steel, bleh.

I live in Phx, thanks though.

Jeffbucc

Metalnerd's VW TDI Engine Tools, Tools for VW Beetles, Jetta, Passat Golfs, Audi is where I buy all my VW specialty tools. Serious high quality tools that are WAY cheaper than buying VW branded specialty.

I also have the LAPS Triples that work just fine as well.

This is my favorite tool for dampers for removing the top nut, and making torquing it all down easy.




















Strut Spreader

hi_im_sean

iTrader: (3)

That triple square set is stupid affordable.

Jeff, what do I need, to do struts on my MK5?

Jeffbucc

The strut spreader is an absolute necessity if you don't want to make it a living hell. You can jam a flat head in but good luck turning it 90º and having it stay in that position while you remove the strut.

Spring compressors of course.

The top tool is very nice to get an allen wrench through the socket to remove the top nut.

Easy job, tons of write ups for it, just the first time you do it it will take a long time. The rear is like a 10 minute job.

shuiend

iTrader: (24)